The 2007 "Kreuzer Cup''
The 2007 "Kreuzer Cup'' should have been called the "Cotchin Crown''!
The stigma of the "Kreuzer Cup" in the final round of 2007, and the lame matches leading into it, just won't go away for the dirty rotten blues and I for one just could not be happier considering it was the mighty Tigers who benefitted so wonderfully well from their actions. The dirty rotten blues through their tactics of tanking saw them steal a priority pick by losing 10 matches in a row in the back half of 2007and thus allowed them to take Matthew Kreuzer as their first pick. Even though Chris Judd was still sitting there waiting for the Tigers to pounce, the dirty rotten blues knew that we were always going to take Cotchin with our first pick irrespective of whether they got the priority pick or not. The dirty rotten blues assistant coach at the time Tony Liberatore caused screaming headlines early the next season after an interview on The Footy Show when he said he had never heard a directive from above for the Blues to deliberately to tank games, but said he could "feel it". He said there were even jokes made among coaching staff. "We wouldn't use those words (how do we lose), but another assistant coach would say, 'Tanks very much', or something along those lines in a jocular way," he said. He added that he believed coaches from both sides had laid low in the Round 22 Carlton-Melbourne clash that would become known as the "Kreuzer Cup". "In all honesty I think both coaches tried to lose it," he said. They were extraordinary comments at the time ... even more extraordinary when you re-visit them in the current climate. Yet, in an era before the AFL had a fully fledged integrity department, the investigation was limited. Liberatore's claims were just as explosive as Brock McLean's, but it was not as if every Blues assistant coach and executive was hauled in. It was over in a flash after "Libba" watered down his story on visiting the AFL. The "Kreuzer Cup" was full of startling stats and moves. The game was a free for all, more NBL than AFL. Both teams had 60-plus forward entries, underlining the shootout and a loose Demon Travis Johnstone racked up 42 disposals.
But eight years on, their tanking and selection of Matthew Kreuzer has turned out to be a monumental mistake as Trent Cotchin continues to take all before him as his standing in the AFL community continues to grow in stature as Kreuzer struggles to stay on the park. According to many of we Tiger faithful Cotchy is already challenging Matthew Richardson and Dale Weightman as the best Richmond player since a bloke named Bartlett. Not bad for a player who draws the best opposition tagger week after week, year after year. But it's the poise and decision making under pressure, the third, fourth and fifth efforts and the crazy brave desperation that sets him apart. As former recruiter and now 3AW head of football Mark Kleiman said at the time: "He just refuses to be beaten''. Cotchin and Kreuzer were the standout players of the 2007 draft pool, best friends and teammates at the Northern Knights in the TAC Cup and together they absolutely slayed junior competitions at school, state and national levels, making it a race in two for the No.1 honour. But even back then, many recruiters felt Cotchin had the edge. It was a selection dilemma for all to see when the pair ran out for a Vic Metro trial match at Victoria Park in May that year. A who's who of AFL talent scouts and player agents had gathered in the stands and after just 10 minutes they'd seen enough. A group of them approached the Vic Metro coach asking if Cotchin could come off. "He was wrecking the game,'' Kleiman recalled this week. "He'd had about 10 kicks and 10 clearances. We just said: 'Please take him off'. Everyone knew he was the star. You didn't have to watch Trent Cotchin play for more than 10 minutes to figure that out.'' Kreuzer played in the ruck that day, but there were no calls for him to be benched. But, as Kleiman points out, the problem for the Blues was that they desperately needed a ruckman to bolster their burgeoning midfield stocks. So when Richmond's turn came at pick No.2, all Tigers official could barely conceal their collective delight when the young Cotchin's name was read out and in doing so a tiger legend in the making was born and all of Tigerland started to rejoice as finally we saw a blossoming Brett Deledio get some much needed assistance. There was finally some light at the end of the tunnel for the poor suffering Tigers and their legion of heart broken fans. But with a history of draft disasters behind us; (think Fiora over Pavlich, Tambling over Franklin or Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls over anyone else) Richmond was due for a big change of luck. The wheel turned full circle in 2009 when Richmond took Dustin Martin at pick three after Melbourne used picks one and two on Tom Scully and Jack Trengove. (thank you very much you dirty rotten demons!) But in my opinion it's the draft of 2007 that will prove the coup de grace for the draft table sins of the past where we selected our future All Australian Multiple Best & fairest winner, captain and one day soon the man that will stand on the dais on grand final day hold the premiership cup aloft as well as a future legend of the club. Thank you so very much you dirty rotten blues!!! As a footnote to all of this we also had a priority pick at no 18 that year and we chose a young colt of a fellow called Alex Rance! 2007 AFL NATIONAL DRAFT ORDER 1. Matthew Kreuzer (Dirty Rotten Blues ) 2. Trent Cotchin (The Mighty Tigers) 3. Chris Masten (Dirty Rotten West Eagles) 4.Cale Morton (Dirty Rotten Demons) 5.Jarrad Grant (Dirty Rotten Bulldogs) 6.David Myers (Dirty Rotten Bombers) 7. Rhys Palmer (Dirty Rotten Dockers) 8.Lachie Henderson (Dirty Rotten Lions) 9.Ben McEvoy (Dirty Rotten Saints) 10.Patrick Dangerfield (Dirty Rotten Crows)
